Customer Reviews

State Security and Regime Security: President Syngman Rhee and the Insecurity Dilemma in South Korea, 1953-60 (St. Antony's)

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As the year 2000 marks the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, this book is quite thought-provoking as it meticulously describes how President Syngman Rhee of South Korea struggled to ensure the survival and rehabilitation of his country in the closing days of the war and how he interrelated state security with the survival of his regime as his popularity declined in later years. The book, well documented based on extensive source materials and interviews the author had with personalities concerned, is also instructive for its implications that help its readers better understand the political mentality and negotiation behaviors of Korean leaders, be they communists or West-oriented politicians like Rhee who was educated at Princeton and Harvard and who lived for decades in exile in the United States. One can draw an analogy between various unilateral actions taken by Rhee in his attempt to secure better terms in armistice talks and ultimately a firm U.S. security and economic commitment to his country, as illustrated in the book, and the brinkmanship that North Korea's Kim Il-sung and his son, Kim Jong-il, have employed in their deals with the U.S. in recent years for the survival of their state and regime, playing nuclear and missile cards. As Rhee turned out to be the very victim of his inflexible policy governing the interaction between state security and regime security, it is to be seen how North Korea will manage a similar interaction and what sort of fate it will face as the result.